Many voice mail systems today provide some information about the call with the stored audio signal. This voice mail identification is normally associated with the telephone number of the voice mail subscriber. As the ability to send return messages is a normal and expected attribute of voice mail communication, data message protocol provides for message headings to include both sending and receiving addresses. Thus, in conventional systems, the receiving voice mailbox typically gains access to the calling number information as part of its processing of each incoming call. If received, the voice mail system stores the calling number and will announce that number to the subscriber during message retrieval and/or related mailbox access operations. The information may also be used to enable call-back to the party that left the message for the subscriber or for forwarding of a newly recorded message from the subscriber to a mailbox of the original calling party.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,061,432 to Wallace et al., discloses a voice mail system with signaling connectivity to the interoffice signaling portion of the switched telephone network. This enables the voice mail system to query other network nodes such as an end office switch or an intelligent signaling transfer point to obtain routing information used to forward a reply message to an appropriate box of the original caller in a remote voice mail system.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,711,248 to Haber et al., describes an improved telephone/answering machine system which is capable of enabling an automatic callback to a calling telephone number whose caller has left a recorded message. In response to a received call, an identifier of the calling telephone is stored along with the message from the caller. Thereafter, the called party is enabled to play the message left by the caller and is further to enter a callback signal during the playing of the message. This action causes the message playback to be interrupted, the identifier to be recalled from memory and used to automatically place a call to the calling telephone whose message was interrupted.
Other developments in the known voice mail systems enable the calling party's telephone number to be extracted from the data transmitted by the telephone system in connection with the call. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,671,269 to Egan, et al., describes a telephone communication apparatus that includes equipment which detects a calling party's telephone number (i.e., the calling number). The calling number is then stored in a data storage unit, along with a recorded message from the calling party. The recipient (i.e., the called party) of the message retrieves the message and the stored calling number.
The provision of automatic callback arrangements is known in the prior art. U.S. Pat. No. 5,185,782 to Srinvasan describes a callback arrangement for an automatic call distribution system which collects and stores the telephone numbers from which calls are incoming, estimates how long each call will have to hold in cue before being answered and, if the waiting time exceeds a predetermined maximum, prompts the caller to choose between holding or receiving a return call. If the caller chooses a return call, the system prompts the caller for a callback time and time period. Thereafter, the system places an outgoing call to the stored telephone number when the callback time arrives. This action is repeated, periodically, until the call is either answered or a callback time period expires.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,930,152 to Miller provides a telephone customer with access to a memorized list of calls which the customer had previously been unable to answer. When an incoming call is not answered, the caller's number is entered on the customer's callback list after being advised by a recorded message to enter, via the DTMF keyboard, the caller's number. The customer is later advised of the calling numbers and is then able to signal for automatic placement of a return call.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,195,418 to Ridgley describes a telephone system having a callback capability and method for connecting a recipient of a message to a caller. A calling party initiates a telephone call from the calling unit. The telephone call is coupled to a called unit. If the telephone call is not answered at the called unit, a message delivery system prompts the calling party at the calling unit to leave a voice message for the called party. In response to the prompt, the calling party provides a voice message to the message delivery system. The calling party's telephone number and the voice message associated with the calling party's telephone number are stored in a storage device. When a message recipient (i.e., the called party) desires to retrieve messages from the message delivery system, the message recipient activates the called unit to call a telephone number associated with the message delivery system. The message delivery system answers the call and prompts the message recipient for input. The message recipient may then activate a callback feature by, for example, pressing a first predetermined sequence of digits (e.g., “1” “1” “3”, etc.) on the touch-tone keypad of the called unit. After the callback feature is activated, the message delivery system identifies that the called unit is requesting the voice message assigned to the called unit. At the same time, an information decoder receives and decodes the telephone number of the called unit, which may then be stored in the storage device by the processor. The processor then retrieves the voice message originated by calling unit, and replays the voice message to the message recipient, e.g., using a voice response unit. After playing the message, the message delivery system prompts the message recipient with an option to automatically call back the calling party by pressing a second predetermined key sequence (e.g., “*”). If the recipient presses this second predetermined key sequence, the message delivery system retrieves the calling party's telephone number (associated with the voice message) and directs the telecommunications switch to connect the return call from the called unit to the calling unit.
It is therefore an object of this invention to provide an improved method and system wherein a voice mail recipient while or after listening to a verbal announcement of a calling telephone number including a recorded voice message of a previous caller left in the voice mail recipient's mailbox, is allowed to activate an automatic callback to the previous caller without disconnecting from voice mail.
It is another object of this invention to provide an improved method and system for automatically delivering to the previous caller's busy or idle station identifying information (i.e., a directory telephone number (DN) and/or a name, a city, a state, or both a city and a state)) related to the voice mail recipient after the voice mail recipient activates the automatic callback to the previous caller.